Overview

What the Directories are saying:

Legal 500 2017

“He is extremely good, very thorough, his pleadings are excellent, his attention to detail is superb, and he’s got a very nice demeanour in court and with clients.”

Chambers & Partners 2015

“Well prepared and an excellent advocate who is able to engage the jury from the outset.”

Chambers & Partners 2014

Gareth has over 17 years’ experience of trial advocacy and during that time has developed a wide-ranging practice in which he is instructed in serious criminal and personal injury cases.

Gareth appears for the Crown and Defence in complex and serious matters. He is a member of the Attorney General’s panel of Special Advocates and is a panel member for Rape and Serious Sexual Offence cases, CPS Complex Casework matters.

Gareth has developed a high level practice for both Claimant and Defendant personal injury work. His cases span long-term disability, fatal accidents, brain injury, stress and industrial disease work. He is able to transpose the trial skills that he has developed in jury cases to good effect in the examination of witnesses in both County Court and High Court proceedings.

He is a member of Gray’s Inn’s “A” panel of advocacy trainers, regularly providing tuition sessions for younger members of the profession. His own experience first developed at University, where he was President of the Cambridge Union and an award-winning debater and public speaker. He studied law at Christ’s College, Cambridge.

Crime

Gareth appears for both the Crown and Defence in complex and serious cases. His works spans the spectrum from very high value fraud and money laundering trials to multi-party murder cases.

He is entrusted by both defence and CPS teams with cases of particular sensitivity, including those involving serious sexual allegations, child witnesses, vulnerable witnesses, intermediaries and mental health issues. He is well regarded for his approachable manner, both in and out of the courtroom, and his ability to judge the right pitch for a particular case or witness. He frequently handles trials involving allegations of child rape or historic abuse.

Recommended as a leading junior in Chambers and Partners guides 2014-2017.

Crime

Having been promoted in 2013 to the highest grade of qualification for prosecution work, Gareth appears for both the Crown and Defence in complex and serious cases. His works spans the spectrum from very high value fraud and money laundering trials to multi-party murder cases involving issues of joint enterprise and the like. He is a member of the Attorney General’s panel of Special Advocates and is on the list of approved Counsel for the East Midlands Complex Casework Unit. He is ranked as a recommended Barrister in Chambers & Partners 2014.

He is entrusted by both defence and CPS lawyers with cases of particular sensitivity, including those involving serious sexual allegations, child witnesses, vulnerable witnesses, intermediaries and mental health issues. He is well regarded for his approachable manner, both in and out of the courtroom, and his ability to judge the right pitch for a particular case or witness. He frequently handles trials involving allegations of child rape or historic abuse.

He has appeared in many high value confiscation cases (both criminal and civil), regularly achieving substantial reductions in the sums seized from his lay clients.

Gareth also has a busy advisory practice. Examples include advising the Lieutenant-Governor of Jersey on applications for leave to appeal, cases involving highly sensitive material and issues of Public Interest Immunity. He often acts as “Independent Counsel”, advising as to privileged material.

“Your excellent Counsel has represented you so well during these proceedings”

R v RL (2013): Successfully defending a man accused of the attempted murder of his partner and her pregnant friend. Trial before MacDuff J.

Personal Injury

Gareth has developed a high level practice for both Claimant and Defendant personal injury work. His work spans long-term disability, fatal accidents, brain injury, stress and industrial disease work.

With over 15 years’ experience of regular trials, he has a particular skill for witness handling and advocacy in liability trials, including issues pertaining to alleged fraud, malingering or exaggeration of claims.

His personal injury and criminal experience are also combined in cases relating to alleged sexual and physical abuse (both historic and recent), civil actions against the police and inquests.

He is frequently entrusted to handle difficult interlocutory applications, such as relief from sanctions applications and setting aside default judgments, where careful and persuasive written and oral submissions are required.

Fraudulent Claims

Gareth has combined his experience of high-level investigative and prosecution work with 15 years of personal injury cases to develop a particular specialism in pleading and establishing fraud. His particular advocacy experience, spanning criminal and civil trials, leaves him well disposed to the requirements of successful, incisive cross examination of a party accused of fraud. He is frequently instructed on behalf of a major national retailer, several defence specialist firms and insurers to advise on the gathering and presentation of suitable evidence in such cases.

In a recent example he advised a company that faced a £1,000,000+ claim, in which they had previously admitted liability, as to the gathering of different sources of evidence in light of a suspicion of fraud. The resulting surveillance, internet, banking, HMRC, benefits and local authority evidence, and his subsequent draft defence alleging fraud, led to the claim being entirely discontinued. He has successfully defended a further four £100,000+ claims in the last 12 months in which fraudulent conduct has been pleaded.

Defendant Abuse

Gareth has particular expertise in cases concerning the investigation and trial of allegations of historic abuse. He is often specifically instructed for his experience in obtaining, distilling and presenting to significant effect records held by social services, local authorities, schools, medical agencies and the like. In recent years he has put this experience to good use both in jury trials but also in civil actions, including those involving local authorities and also large organisations. Several high value claims, including one valued at over £1million, were defeated following his use of severely undermining material that had been found in third party records.

Personal Injury Cases

MH v B Plc (2012): Successfully established a defence of fraud in a personal injury claim that had been pleaded in excess of £1,000,000.

Re Estate of S.K.M(deceased) (2013): Recovered over £545,000, following trial, for the dependents of a husband/father who had died in a road traffic accident.

Bernotas v M.UK.R Ltd (2014): Recovered £400,000 for an employee who had suffered a serious foot injury in the workplace, successfully resisting allegations of malingering based on surveillance evidence.

JR v B Plc (2014): Successfully defended a “stress at work” claim on behalf of a major national retailer.